Story 6 Supernatural Spring Fever Pt 1
by Dragonladylewis
Summary: When Alex and Dean fall under a Siren's spell, Sam and Bobby race to find a cure...but the symptoms don't fit. Is it a Siren or something else? My fav story so far! Are Alex & Dean finally gonna kiss?


SUPERNATURAL

SEASON 6

"Spring Fever"

Alex paces, like a big cat, around her small motel room with her cell phone pressed to her ear.

"Bobby? It's Alex. Boy am I glad you picked up. Listen I have a big issue in a small town and I was wondering. Ahhh...well if you can..."

Alex struggles for words. _How do I say this without sounding like a dork, and what if he won't tell me?_ Alex sighs and finally spits it out.

"Do you know if Sam and Dean are working a job anywhere? No? Listen Bobby, I've never had to do this before but I need help. I think it's a Siren, but it's not any pattern that I've seen before. Do you think I should call him, ahhh, them, call them? "

Bobby leans back in his chair and smiles a huge grin at her Freudian slip up. He grabs a map sitting off to the corner of his desk and pulls it closer to him and reads it.

"Ya, sure give him, ahhh, them a call." He teases her. He hears her giggle at the other end of the phone and smiles at her. He knew Alex better than she though and he knew Dean too, they were exactly the same in a lot of ways. He knows without reassurance she'll never believe Dean would want to see her again, and judging by the many, many, times Dean had asked about her, he wanted to see her again.

"Why not? As far as I know they're just finishing up and relaxing over New York State. Where are you? Okay then, that should take them a day or so to get there, can't see why not. Besides Dean would love to see you again."

He teases; it was obvious to anybody that knew them they were both still hung up on each other. He just hoped they'd both eventually give up the hard-ass acts and get together.

"Give them a call; they had a run-in with a Siren a couple years ago so they know what they're like. And Alex be careful, they are really sneaky things, don't let your guard down for a second. The only way to kill them is to stab them with a knife covered with an infected person's blood."

Alex smiles at Bobby's concern and glances around the room, then gets serious. She was worried, things were not working out right, nothing fit, this hunt was off and something was bugging her. Her spidey senses were going nuts and she couldn't figure out why.

"You be careful too, Bobby. I know what kind of crazy stuff you get up to"

"You too hon." Bobby smiles and hangs up the phone, he tosses the map aside, then frowns and grabs it back for a closer look. There were a lot of red marks around that area for some reason.

Alex hangs up her cell phone and paces around the room for a second, then flips it open and speed dials a number. She hangs it up again before it rings. _Oh Come on! You Chicken-shit!_ She scolds herself, still pacing around the room. _You text him all the time, he always texts you back, he says call. Maybe he's just being nice; maybe he doesn't want to see you again. But you need help, you need him._

She paces over to the window and looks out the curtain, her truck is parked in the parking lot out front, a green lawn and a small town Main Street with small shops sit right out in front of the parking lot. The street is lined with parking meters, iron and wooden benches and trees. Couples are walking around holding hands and kissing, some are sitting on the benches necking, a couple cars parked at the meters have windows all steamed up. Alex pulls the curtains shut and then looks at her cell phone again, then speed dials. Alex starts pacing again with the phone pressed to her ear. The second ring hasn't even finished when he picks it up.

"Alex? " His voice is low and growly; it sends a shiver through her. For a second she wonders what it would be like having him whisper it like that against her skin. _His lips tickling and nibbling down her neck..._she jerks her mind back to the present and clears her throat.

"Dean, hi, it's me. Did I call at a bad time? I can call back later..." the thought of him with a woman right now bugged the hell out of her but she'd rather hang up than know some bimbo was there with him while she was talking to him.

Dean lounges on the bed, the TV remote in his hand, absently flipping through channels, the cell phone in his ear. It's a typical cheap, run down motel room the boys always get. Sam is stretched out on the other bed in the room, napping. Dean sits up straighter when he hears Alex's voice on the other end of the phone.

" Alex! No, its fine we're just finishing up, catching some zzz's. What about you?" He listens to her explanation, then flips the TV off and swings his legs off the bed, is focus entirely on her voice.

"Really, a Siren, those are nasty sons-of-bitches. Ya, sure, I'd love to help. Where are you?

Dean grabs a pen and paper from the nightstand between the two beds and writes a quick note and glances over at Sam. He glances around the room; it's a complete disaster area, clothes, food boxes, hunting notes and weapons are spread everywhere.

"Ahhh, give us a couple hours."

Alex snorts a laugh on the other end of the phone and finally sits down on the edge of the bed. She relaxes and smiles at him over the phone.

"Bobby says it will take you a day. I have to agree. It will take you that long just to clean up your room. And you drive like an old woman, so ya, a day is pretty close." Dean throws his head back and laughs, then looks over at Sam smiling.

"Bobby says a day? Ya well he drives like an old man. I'll call you when we get close, hang tight, and Alex..." Dean glances over at Sam again and assured he's really asleep talks gently into the phone.

"Be careful, okay?" Alex is temporarily speechless at the tenderness in his voice; she blinks and smiles, then takes a breath, her voice is husky when she replies.

"Only for you." Dean hangs up his cell phone and looks at it for a second. He bites his lower lip between his teeth and thinks for a minute, then jumps up and smacks Sam's leg. He starts rapidly shoving things in a duffel bag while he talks to Sam.

"Hey! Sammy! Up and at 'em! We've got a job." Sam shifts in the bed and slowly comes awake, rubbing his face and stretching his huge frame out over the bed. He winces when he stretches out a few sore muscles in his arm. He rubs them and watched Dean frantically pack his bag.

"What? Since when?" He groans, struggling into a seated position.

It's easier to watch Dean spin around the room tossing everything that was material in the duffel bag, his clothes, Dean's clothes, a motel towel; all gets stuffed into the same bag. Dean never packed like that, he did stuff all his things into a laundry bag, but this was everything. _What the hell would make him pack like that?_ As soon as Sam thinks it, the answer pops into his head, only one thing would send Dean into a spin like that. Alex, and since he wasn't completely freaking out it mean she wasn't hurt. So that meant she had called and asked to meet him somewhere about a job.

"Since Alex called...come on I told her we would be there in a couple hours."

Sam rubs his face, then looks at Dean who is stuffing his clothes into his duffel bag from a dresser drawer. He smiles, then stretches and stands up, taking his time, strolls to the bathroom. Dean shoves the drawer shut and tossed a couple of porn magazines off the top into the bag, then tosses the bag on the bed. Dean jerks open the nightstand and tosses ammunition and a knife into the weapons bag and then looks at Sam, who is taking way too long.

"Come on Sam, let's go! What's taking so long?" Sam smiles at his reflection in the mirror and grabs his toothbrush. This was a chance to get in a few of his own digs, and he wasn't going to let it pass.

"Geeze man, what's the rush? Its Alex, you two don't like each other remember? No wait, you do like each other you both just too stubborn to admit it."

Dean rolls his eyes at his brother, then shakes his head at him. He stuffs the garbage into a small garbage can and then stacks several pizza boxes beside the overflowing can.

"Come on Sam, don't start bugging. She's got a Siren problem and she needs help. You know how bad those damn things are. We both got caught...besides she actually called and asked for help, so it's probably a lot worse than she even said."

Sam makes a surprised face in the mirror at himself and stuffs his razor and shaving cream in his shaving kit. As soon as he leaves the bathroom, Dean ducks in behind him. Sam starts cleaning up the hunting notes and the journals. By the time Dean comes out Sam is stuffing his laptop into his bag. The room has been stripped and everything packed in about five minutes. Dean walks around checking for anything left behind, and then glances down at the night stand between the two beds.

"Got your ruler Sammy?" Sam bitch-faces at him then grabs his duffel bag off his bed, tossing it over his shoulder. _Oh, so you want to keep going do you?_ Sam thinks.

"Are you sure you don't want to grab a shower first, put on a little aftershave, maybe get a haircut? Dean grabs his bags and joins Sam at the door, Sam opens it and steps outside waiting for Dean to process the little seeds Sam just dumped. Dean runs his hand down the back of his head and across his neck.

"No Sam. I'm fine. You don't think I need a haircut do you? It looks okay doesn't it?" Sam laughs at him and shakes his head at him.

"Way too easy Dean, way too easy."

The Impala pulls up to the curb alongside a parking meter, in front of an old fashion looking restaurant. It's the same small town street, lined with shops and trees we saw Alex looking at out her motel window. The trees are just starting to bud and he grass is starting to green, it's an early spring in the small town. Red and white checked cafe curtains decorate the windows of the old brick building, gold lettering on the windows announces that it's, "Mom and Pops Diner". The Impala's engine stops rumbling and Sam and Dean climb out, stretching and groaning. Both look at the restaurant then around the small town block. Its quiet, neat and clean, they both shrug at each other then look back at the restaurant.

"This looks like the place. I'm starving." Sam mutters, he shoves his hand in his pocket and pulls out several chocolate bar wrappers, he grimaces and then tosses them into the nearby garbage can. He felt like crap, probably from lack of sleep and all the junk food he'd been eating the last couple of days. Real food, he couldn't wait for it, and judging from the smells coming from the restaurant it was going to be a great place to eat. Dean smirks and then pulls his cell phone out of his pocket and dials a number, he glances around and presses it to his ear.

"Ya, I hope it has cheeseburgers, and pie...I'm dying for some pie. Real pie, not that frozen crap half these guys try to pull off as pie." Sam smiles and looks around the town streets, several new cars slowly make their way down the street, people smile as they walk past them both. _Quiet, happy, neat little town, great, the worst monsters seem to hang out in towns like this. _ Sam thinks, his stomach rumbles and he glances around impatient, hoping Dean would get his focus off of Alex and onto eating.

"I'd be happy for some coffee and stale bread. Are you gonna call Alex and let her know we are here?" Dean gives Sam a look and gestures to the phone pressed to his ear.

"Ahhh, hello? Phone in ear? Ya, Alex, it's me. We just pulled in to the diner. How close are you? Okay then, see you in a minute."

Dean snaps the phone shut and looks around and notices a young couple necking on a park bench just a store down from the restaurant. He smiles a funny smile, then looks at Sam and heads for the door of the restaurant.

"She's coming right over, she said she was only a minute away, the motel is right in the middle of town. Let's go get a table before I pass out."

They open the door and stroll into the restaurant. Dean pauses a second checking the tables and booths, there is another couple snuggling up to each other in a booth, romantic, whispering in each other's ears and giggling. A couple at a table are feeding each other bites of ice cream, another couple are holding hands across a table talking to each other. Dean glances at Sam to see if he's noticed, he has, Sam shrugs his shoulders, makes a face and stuffs his hands in his pockets and eyes the crowd.

Dean makes his way to a booth near the back of the restaurant beside a window, then sits facing the door and grabs a plastic menu. He hands one to Sam and opens it up. They barely have time to look at it when Alex walks in; she glances around the restaurant, then sees Dean and freezes for a second. Her stomach flips a little at the sight of him, he immediately looks up and spots her, it's a long minute before they look away from each other and Alex manages to get herself moving again. Sam sees Dean looking over his shoulder at something intently and turns around to look at the door. Sam sees Alex, his lips twitch into a smile and he turns back around to look at Dean.

"So, she's looking pretty good. I see you've noticed."

"Don't even start Sam!" Dean growls. He glances at an approaching Alex and smiles at her.

"I was simply making an observation." Sam teases, a huge grin splits his face and makes it hard to even talk. This was going to be so much fun, Dean totally drooling over Alex and Alex trying to play it cool. Like high school all over again.

Alex stops at the corner of the table and glances around, Sam slides over and Alex slides in, smiling, obviously feeling a little tense and a little uncomfortable.

"Ahhh, wow, I didn't think you'd actually make it in one day. How are you guys?"

Dean hasn't taken his eyes off her, he's barely blinked since she's sat down, Alex blushes slightly and glances around the table to try and include Sam but she finds herself staring at Dean again. Her eyes caress his face, noticing an extra wrinkle in the corner of his eye, a new scar above his right eyebrow, his lips curl into a grin and he watches her look at him. She blushes when she realises she's being way too obvious looking at him and looks down at the table.

"Great! How's the arm?" Dean asks, smiling at the blush spreading across her face. Alex smiles and flexes her fingers, then rotates her wrist around and shows him.

"Okay I guess, fingers are still numb in places, can't type very good yet..."

"You're not over-doing it are you? You're not supposed to be doing too much right?" Dean leans across the table to be closer to her, Alex smiles at him and leans in closer, and raises her eyebrows at him.

"Ya, okay and I bet when the doctors tell you to take it easy and relax you do exactly as your told too." Dean actually blushes faintly and smiles a saucy grin at her, and picks at the edge of the menu

"Well, no not really..." Dean looks around the table, suddenly at a loss for words. Sam smiles at them both and jumps into the conversation.

"No never. You look great Alex. We're glad you called. Sirens are nasty." Alex frowns and looks uncomfortable for a second, fiddles with her napkin. Dean looks at her, then Sam, then back to Alex.

"Alex? Why do I get the feeling you're not telling us something?" he grumbles at her. Alex shrugs and then glances around the restaurant and then back to the boys; she leans in closer to them both and talks in a low voice.

"I've hunted Sirens before, something's off."

Conversation stops as the waitress joins them at the table, Dean folds his menu and hands it to Alex who waves it off. Alex, obviously familiar with her and the menu smiles up at Sally. She is an older woman in her 50's, with big hair, lots of make-up but a friendly face and outgoing personality.

"Hey hon, nice to see you again, and you brought friends! Oh aren't you two just cute little things. I'd hide them if I were you hon! I'd just want to eat them right up." Dean's eyebrows shoot up a bit, then he smiles at the waitress, he's automatically gone into flirting mode. Sam smiles behind his menu at Dean and tries not to smile like a goof.

"Awww, sweetheart don't go talking like that, she'll lock me up and won't let me come back here again." Sally laughs, recognising his type and glances at Alex, before flirting back at Dean.

"Well she's smart little thing cause I'd do the same thing if you were my man." Sam snorts a laugh from behind his menu and Alex glares at Dean across the table. Dean obviously kicks Sam under the table, but never stops smiling at Sally.

"Well, then let's not tease her any more, I'm starving. Please tell me you have cheeseburgers..."

They did have cheeseburgers and they were freakin' amazing. Alex and Dean have both ordered cheeseburgers and onion rings, and are eating the last bites of their cheeseburgers. Sam is finishing his chicken salad when Dean finally looks up from his plate. Dean drains the last of his coffee and then looks at Alex's plate almost half full of rings.

"Are you going to finish your onion rings?" Alex glances up at him and smiles a funny grin at him and finishes her coffee.

"Nope, saving room for dessert."

"No point, they have no pie. How can you run out of pie? That should be against the law." Dean grumbles and bitches from the plate.

Alex slides her plate over to Dean who starts to eat them; he then stops looking over Alex's shoulder. Alex turns a little and sees Sally heading over with a large platter, she glances back a Dean with a huge smile on her face. Sally balances the edge of the platter on the table and starts placing several pieces of pie on the table in front of Alex. Alex groans happily and rubs her stomach, smiling up at Dean's face.

"Sorry hon, we didn't make any blueberry today but we've got cherry instead." Alex almost laughs at the look on Dean's face when he realises the news Sally had delivered earlier wasn't exactly accurate.

"Oooh, cherry is my third favourite right after lemon meringue and apple. That's great!"

Dean's mouth falls open looking at Alex, then at Sally who is clearing away the empty dishes.

"I thought you said there was no pie left?"

"There isn't, I saved this for Alex, don't worry hon, we're making more tomorrow. If you ask real nice maybe she'll share." Dean pouts and watches Alex shove her fork into the cherry and take a bite, making exaggerated faces at Dean.

"Ummm, this pie is so good..." Dean glares at her leaning back in his chair, while Sally tops up the coffee. She grabs her full tray of dishes from the table and smiles at Alex then leaves. Dean stirs sugar into his coffee and bangs his spoon down on the table and glares at her across the table. Alex laughs and slides a piece of apple over in his direction, she knows it's his favourite kind but decides to tease him anyway.

"I'll share BUT you can either take a whole piece with the condition you give me a bite OR you can just have a bit of everything, like me."

"Fine, if I take the apple does that mean I get a bite of your cherry pie too?" Alex nods and slides the pie the rest of the way over to him, Dean grabs his coffee spoon and digs in, groaning in happiness at the taste. Sam shakes his head and laughs at the two of them, then smiles at Alex.

"Seriously? Six pieces of pie? That almost makes me nauseous." Alex shrugs and then smiles at Sam with a mischievous grin.

"I can go running later. Besides its five pieces and a bite and nobody said I had to eat the crust." Dean and Alex both make a face at Sam and dig into the pie.

"Ahhh, when you two are done...what did you mean when you said something was off? What's off?" Alex glances around the restaurant to see it's almost empty, then turns back to the boys and leans in closer.

"Well, if I remember right Sirens infect their victims so they can feed off of them. Emotionally, right?" Dean frowns and chews, then looks at her closer.

"Ya, I guess. That's a simple explanation, but it works."

"Well, that's the thing. Everybody here is acting like there infected by a Siren, except their partners are the Sirens. I can't figure it out."

Dean frowns for a second, then leans back in his seat and looks at her.

"Ahhh, what? You're telling me you called us here because couples are making out with each other? What the hell? Couple are always, you know... horney."

Alex levels a look at him that makes him stop. She leans in closer and glances around, then looks hard at him. She would never waste his time and make him drive for hours if it was just horney couples.

"And they're dying...from what I can tell they are just falling down dead. I thought it was a disease at first and was going to bolt outta here, but everybody keeps talking about a woman, a beautiful woman. They all describe her as beautiful but they all see her different. Two witnesses both saw her at the same time and one says she had brown hair the other guy says red, one says green eyes, one says blue. In ten days I have seven dead couples, and a dozen witnesses who say they've seen this woman. If it's not a Siren then I don't know what it is. That's why I called you two."

Sam frowns at her explanation, and leans back in his seat, he quickly analyses what she's told him, and then looks hard at Dean. Something isn't right; nothing fits the description she's just given them.

"It sounds like a Siren, they can appear as the person you desire most, so it would look different to different people but I don't think it can appear as two things at once. I thought it had to take one form at a time."

Dean nods from his seat, thinking hard as he chews a bite of pie, he then swallows.

"It can't be a shape shifter they take one form at a time too. Hell I've never heard of anything that can do that. What did Bobby say?"

Alex pinches her lips together and sighs, Bobby was so busy and he wasn't getting any younger. He didn't eat right, hardly slept, drank too much and worried about her more than she wanted him too. The last thing she wanted to do was add more stress to his already stressful life.

"I never said anything; I figured he's too busy with the Salvage Yard right now."

Dean and Sam both glance at each other, Alex was obviously worried about Bobby. Alex glances down at Dean's pie plate and glares up at him. _He forgot! He forgot about me! You jerk!_

"Dean! You ate all the apple! Where's my bite!"

Alex and Sam are seated opposite from each other at the old table, both on their laptops. Alex is typing slowly using two fingers and thumb of her right hand, she stops for a second massaging her palm with her left thumb, wincing in pain. Dean, very aware of her, glances over at her from his position in the bed. He drops is father's journal on the bed and walks over to her.

"Why don't you take a break? You're overdoing it. Go read a book or something. We can switch and you can take the journals."

Alex glances up at him, frustrated at her uncooperative fingers and hours of searching spend that have resulted in a big fat nothing. She was keeping them from their own hunts and wasting their time and was feeling like an idiot.

"I'm fine! Besides we haven't found anything yet." Dean's face goes blank for a second then he glares at her defensively.

"I told you I was sorry for eating all the apple pie, I'm not use to sharing."

Alex shakes her head at him and then gives him a condescending look. She feels irritated and tired and frustrated at their inability to figure out what they were hunting.

"It's not about the damn pie. Will you give it up about the pie all ready? You don't have to baby me, I can't take care of myself. It's just so freakin' slow typing like this and we're not getting a damned thing."

Dean stomps back to the bed and flops down grumbling at her as he goes.

"Fine, I'm not babying you. I just wanted to know how the new sleeve is working."

Alex looks up and catches Sam looking at her, she looks down at the laptop screen and sighs. She is being a bitch and taking it out on him, which wasn't fair at all. He was looking out for her and she always took it the wrong way. Alex gets up and walks over to Dean. She stands in front of him and tugs up the sleeve of her Henley shirt exposing a thick white elastic sleeve.

"The elastic bandage is suppose to keep it mashed up tight against my skin so it grows together tight this time. But it's a huge pain in the ass. The skin graft itches like crazy and I can't scratch it. I hate not being one hundred percent."

She slides onto the bed beside him and picks at the edge of the sleeve on her wrist.

"So are you taking care of it right? Cause the doctors told you to take it easy. That vampire bite was really bad. You're not supposed to stretch the skin while it's healing."

Alex smiles a funny grin when he recites her text messages back at her almost word for word, the tenderness and concern in his voice made her feel, special, cared for. It felt great.

"Ya, I'm as careful as I can be. I banged it on the truck door the other day and almost cried. That's good though, it means the nerves are still there." Dean smiles up at her and then shakes his head at the irony of what she's said. He flips through journal pages with his thumb.

"Only you would think that hurting yourself was good." Alex smiles back and nudges the toe of his boot with hers in a playful way.

"Pain means that you're alive." Dean smiles at her for using one of his favourite sayings, and then points to a page in his Dad's old journal that has popped up.

"Listen, this handwriting is all different. Sam and I always wondered who wrote it, is this you?"

Alex slides closer to him, on his right and slides her left arm in behind him leaning on it. Her thigh rests right up against his, the side of her body is pressed against his arm. She leans in closer to the journal he's holding in his left hand and reads the page. Dean glances down at her, watching her face, his expression suddenly hungry and intense. Alex looks at the page and smiles in recognition, and then flips the page over and smiles again. She glances up at him and just misses the look on his face.

Her smile fades a bit; her eyes flick over his, then down to his lips. She wanted to kiss him again, like she had at Bobby's when he had climbed in her bedroom window, like she had when they were dreamwalking. Both kisses had left her feeling ridiculous but she wanted to bury her fingers in his hair and pull him closer and taste him again. _If only she was prettier, and wasn't so scarred up, if only she looked like Jamie and the other girls he was interested in._ The thought of Jamie, and the way the other girls look jerks her back to reality and she jerks her eyes away from his and back down at the journal page. She misses the disappointment that flashes across Dean's face for a second. 

"That's mine. I drew the dorky Wendigo too. John had mashed his fingers up and couldn't write too well."

She laughs at the memory of hunting with their dad and then looks over at Sam.

"He never wrote that well in the first place and he wanted everything written while everything was still 'fresh in our minds'. I kept telling him, 'draw more pictures' it takes less words but he'd just grumble at me and tell me to do it for him anyway. He was soooo, pigheaded sometimes."

Dean laughs and glances over at Sam, who was a lot like John.

"Ya, Dad could get pretty intense. Focused."

Sam bristles at the comparison that always irritates him and glares at Dean.

"Just like you, Dean."

Alex glances between the two of them and then shakes her head to Sam.

"Just like you too, Sam. You both get this look on your face...It's like looking at John," her face changes for a second and gets a soft, shy look on her face. She glances over at Dean and watches his face.

"Dean's stubborn." Dean smiles at her, remembering their little repartee in the factory. He rises to her teasing, glad to be the focus of her attention and flirting.

"I'm adorable, you're stubborn."Alex laughs and bumps him with her shoulder and flirts back at him.

"No, I'm stupid..." Her voice fades away and she smiles at him. Sam looks at them with a puzzled expression, not getting the joke. Dean looks at Alex smiling, then shuts the journal. They both enjoy the moment for a minute and look at each other.

"I didn't think you'd remember that."

"That was priceless. I'll never forget the look on her face when you shot her."

Sam shakes his head at them, and then shuts his laptop and stretches. He is obviously out of place and unwanted at this point. Finally the two of them were connecting, it was almost a relief.

"I think I'm going to head back to our room now. It's late and I'm tired. Somebody call me for breakfast?"

Dean smiles at Alex, and then stands up and grabs his jacket and the journal off the bed beside him. Sam frowns for a second at Dean's inability to grasp the idea Alex wanted him to stay.

"You two can stay here and ah...Reminisce."

"Naw Sammy, your right it's late. Gotta get fresh start tomorrow." Dean slides off the bed and lays the journal on the table beside her computer, then grabs his jacket. He looks almost shy and awkward for a second, shifting on his feet.

"Breakfast at nine? " Alex smiles at him from the bed, oblivious to Sam's presence.

"Nine sounds good. Back to Mom and Pop's or do you want to try something else?"

"Mom and Pop's...that's great. It's a date then." Alex blushes at his choice of words; she jumps up from the bed and shows the two to the door, awkward for a second. Dean smiles at her on doorstep, Alex smiles back.

"I guess it is."

Dean smiles, and the two boys disappear from view. Alex smiles back watching them both go, then locks the door still smiling and slides in behind her laptop.

Alex walks down the street, her back pack slung over her shoulder. She smiles to herself, thinking about breakfast, teasing Dean again, the way he was looking at her, there was something different in the way he was around her now, softer. She pulls her cell phone out of her pocket and dials, not watching where she is going for a second. She actually runs into a large woman also walking down the sidewalk. Alex drops her phone, grabs the woman by the arms to steady her, Alex is flustered and surprised at herself. _What the hell, you've never just run into somebody before, stop freakin' daydreaming and focus on the job!_

"Whoa! Geeze sorry! SAL? Hey, got a day off? Who's going to get me all my pie?"

"Hey hon! It's okay, it's okay. I'm sorry too. Another dead couple, kind of got me shaken up, you know." Alex stops for a second, her focus back on the job and then smiles at Sal.

"Another one? When? Maybe I shouldn't move here after all." She jokes. Sal laughs, relaxing and then shakes her head and looks around the street.

"It's just horrible! Nothing like it! It happened last night, they think. Jeff and Susan Williams. They were going through a hard time lately, with Jeff having an affair and all. But, I guess they made up or something..."

Alex frowns not getting why a couple making up would be so unusual.

"What so strange about that?"

"Well Jack over at the hardware store said they were getting a divorce, but if what they are saying is true then I think Jack had it wrong, and he's usually right on with that stuff. It doesn't make sense, nothing makes sense around here anymore."

Sal bends down and starts gathering the contents of her purse up off the sidewalk. Alex helps Sal gather up the items and then strolls down the sideway with her while they talk. Alex leans in like she's just another gossip enjoying a story.

"Wow, an affair! What are they saying?"

Sally in full gossip swing, grabs Alex's arm and leans in a little closer, then glances around and starts to whisper. The two come to a stop as Sally tells her story.

"Well you didn't hear it from me but...Marcy at the Police Station said that they found them both in bed, naked! They both had heart attacks! I mean, Jeff was just 45 and Susan would try to tell you she was 35 but everybody knows she's 40. But still...at first they all thought someone had broken in cause the place was torn right up, but nope... reports all say heart attacks. Jeff and Susan hadn't slept together in months but there they were..."

Alex's eyebrows pop up playing along, then her phone beeps with a text message. Sally pats her arm and steps back, away from Alex.

"I just have to run a couple of errands but if you come in tonight for supper I'll make sure there's pie for you and your man. He's a sweetie, if I was a couple years younger you'd have some competition."

Alex laughs and pats Sally's arm back, then glances at her cell phone. For a second she thinks about correcting her about their relationship but then she hesitates, the thought of him being 'her man' isn't really that bad.

"Thanks Sal. I'll definitely be looking for some pie, then. Take care."

Sally heads off down the sidewalk; Alex grabs her phone and checks the text. She reads it then speed dials the phone.

"Dean, I've got a lead, another couple died last night. I think we need to get over there and check it out."

Dean glances around the ancient library and manages a tight smile to a crusty looking librarian, then heads out the front door into the sunshine. He takes a big breath of fresh air and looks around.

"Anything is better than this library. They still use cards for their books, who uses cards anymore? Where are you now?"

Alex laughs at him, he usually complained about technology and Sam's geeky attraction to it all. She glances around and gains her bearings, then slides onto a bench.

"Ahh, a block away from the restaurant, two blocks from the motel. The library is about four blocks from me."

Dean glances around the streets and watches several couple walking around holding hands and cuddling. He rolls his eyes at them, then focuses back on Alex.

"Probably better to meet back at the motel, we'll have to switch up clothes, go in official looking. I'll go get Sam. This is freakin' creepy, all these couples, I see what you mean now."

Alex nods her head and stands up, then heads back in the direction of the restaurant.

"Okay, I'll be right there."

Alex hangs up then glances around, and heads off through an alleyway taking a shortcut back to the hotel. She doesn't notice a thin man dressed in coveralls raking the grass, he watches her go then grabs a cell phone and dials. His eyes flip to black for a second and he looks around and smiles.

"She's here, she's hunting something. What I'm not sure but it's not one of ours."

He glances around and listens, then nods his head and smiles an evil grin. He reaches in his pocket and pulls out a photograph of Alex with Sam and Dean in Canonsberg and looks at it, then shoves it back in his pocket.

"Positive it's her. Got it, observe and report. I understand." He flips the phone shut and then tosses the rake down and follows Alex's path through the alleyway.

The Impala pulls slowly into a gravel driveway and comes to a stop a distance away from the lone police car. Nice white split-level house, with an immaculately landscaped yard and a separate garage is neatly laid out on the lot, surrounded with woodlands. The Impala doors open and Sam, Dean and Alex emerge, dressed in suits and ties; they walk up to the police officer lounging in his car. He is obviously bored stiff, waiting for someone to show up.

"Good afternoon, ahhh officer..." Dean pauses, waiting for the officer's last name, fishing for details and waiting to see what kind of cop he was. The police officer glances up from his coffee cup, bored and not impressed.

"Stevens...Officer Stevens...and you are?" Dean relaxes, the guys was obviously just putting in time, not a hard-ass that would make his job a lot more difficult.

"I'm with the Western Insurance Company, we're here to check the house. Have you filed a report yet? We'd like to get a copy if that's possible."

The cop eyes Sam and Alex suspiciously, then glares at Dean.

"It takes three of you to check this little place out? No wonder my insurance rates are so high."

Dean laughs at his little joke then glances over at Alex and jerks his thumb in her direction.

"Yes, well we have one of the new girls with us and you know, they get kind of queasy sometimes...we figure the first sight of blood she's gonna bolt right outta here. I need someone to hang around to collaborate my report."

Officer Stevens glances over at Alex and laughs, then nods his head at Dean. Dean has read him perfectly, the sexist remark has put Dean right in his good graces and he's more than willing to share his opinion of women in a man's job.

"Ya, we've had a couple of those with the force, they didn't last too long, ended up in traffic writing parking tickets. Go ahead, do you guys need gloves?"

"Hey ya that's great..." Dean smiles at him, then glances over at Sam and Alex, giving them th ego ahead to move into the house.

Officer Stevens pops the trunk and jerks his thumb at Dean, Dean smiles and walks around to the trunk grabs a handful of latex gloves, shuts it and nods to the cop. Sam nods and smiles, while Alex shoots him look like she'd like to pop him in the teeth. The cop wiggles his eyebrows at her, and then makes an obvious show of watching her ass when she walks past. Dean walks in the house and tosses the gloves to Sam and Alex.

"Better put them on, it'll keep us from leaving any prints. I think we should stick together just in case something is still lurking around."

Sam and Alex jerks on the latex gloves. Alex glares at Dean.

"Ya, never know when I'm going to bolt and leave you all alone. What the hell did you mean by that?"

Dean is caught completely off guard at her comment and looks at her for a second. His guard immediately pops up and he smiles at her. Sam sees it starting again and shakes his head at the two of them and sneaks around them and walks up a few stairs to the living room. _Better let Dean dig himself out of this one alone, that was a little low there brother._ Dean watches Sam disappear and realises his backup isn't going to back him up this time. His gaze flips to Alex, he smiles at her again.

"Relax, I needed to distract him, keep him from asking too many questions. I know you're not going to bolt. Geeze Alex..."

"Holy crap!"

Alex watches the look of relief flash across Dean's face before he spins on his heel and quickly joins his brother. Alex follows them up the stairs to the living room. The first thing she notices is the coffee table; it looks like everything on the top was swept off in a pile on the floor. The cushions have been pulled off the couch; an armchair was flipped over onto its back. It looks like a hell of a struggle took place.

Sam keeps walking into the kitchen, most of the contents of the fridge are poured on the floor, and two sets of footprints in jam and whipped cream lead off down the hallway towards the other side of the house. Dean looks around the destroyed kitchen and shrugs at Sam's questioning look. Alex checks the back door and frowns, it's locked, no sign of forced entry here or at the front door. Dean pulls out his pistol and cautiously walks down the hallway, stopping to flip open a partially opened door, the washing machine is covered in what looks like bloody hand prints, a single hand print is on the wall farther down hallway. Dean gestures to the handprint and then glances at Alex, who is right behind him.

"I thought you said they both died of heart attacks, from what blood loss?"

Alex's mouth drops open for a second, the total lack of tact he has stuns her for a second, the hurt twists through her more than she would have liked to admit. He looks at her and rolls his eyes, not getting why she would be so shocked at the comment.

"That's not funny Dean!"Sam growls from behind her. Alex stares at Dean in disbelief; Sam leans in closer to him and glares back an gives him a jab in the shoulder. How the hell he could be such a dolt sometimes stunned even Sam, but that was just too much, even for him.

"Ya, considering how close Alex came to dying that way." The look on Dean's face says everything, he really didn't put two-and-two together and realise the implications of what he said. Dean glances quickly between Alex and Sam, realising what he's just said.

"I wasn't being funny! What the hell with all the bloody hand prints is what I meant!"

"Well since we never got a police report before running over here we wouldn't know about the bloody hand prints now would we? Sally said the police say it was a heart attack, and they were found in bed together." Alex growls back at him.

"Fine! Come on!" Dean growls and stomps off in the direction of what should be a bedroom, Sam and Alex follow his lead. Dean disappears through the next doorway, Sam close behind him, Alex bringing up the lead.

The master bedroom is another mess; the top of the dresser was cleared off the same way the coffee table was, a pile of perfume bottles, hair brushes, a vase of flowers, a man's jewellery box with spilled cuff-links. Dean bends down and carefully flips bits of it over, looking through it.

Sam makes his way into the adjoining bathroom, its spotless, not a thing out of place, perfectly neat and tidy. Alex makes her way over to the bed, carefully pulling back the covers, there are several more dark stains on the sheets similar to the bloody hand prints, and more hand prints are on the wall above the bed, two framed prints knocked crooked above the headboard. She bends down and slowly slides a pair of handcuffs up from between the mattress and the headboard. The cuffs are also covered in the same dark stains. Her eyes narrow and she bends closer looking at them, and then she drops them and looks closer at the hand prints. Her face lights up when she realises what she is really looking at. _No freakin' way!_

"Well I'll be damned!" She laughs.

Dean turns and Sam emerges both in time to see Alex wipe a bit of it off the wall and taste it. Dean's mouth falls open looking at her in horror at the thought of her tasting blood. Sam goes a bit white, he's thinking about the trouble he had with demon blood. He's the first to comment on her tasting it.

"Alex! What the hell are you doing?" Alex laughs and turns to the two boys, then wipes her finger over the handprint and holds it up for them to see.

"You guys, this is like '9 1/2 Weeks'!" The two boys look at each other and shrug then look back at Alex and shake their heads.

"You know...the movie? Mickey Rourke, Kim Basinger? The little sex-capades around town?"

" Alex you watch that stuff. Cool." Dean mutters a huge grin over his face. Alex blushes a deep shade of red and glares at him. Sam glares at them both then looks at her, waiting for an answer.

"What are you talking about? What movie? What happened?"

Alex looks pointedly at Dean when she starts to explain.

"You must have seen it, 1986, Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger, they do the kinky sex scene, he blindfolds her in front of the fridge and feeds her stuff like whipped cream and chocolate sauce. Its chocolate sauce! They look like they were having sex all over the house."

Dean smirks his face clearly indicating she had his interest, his mind completely in the gutter. Sam shakes his head knowing his brother's focus was clearly shot to hell.

"So what's with the washing machine?"

Alex's eyebrows pop up at his naive behaviour. _Everybody knew what fun it was playing with a washing machine, didn't they? Sam had a girlfriend, surely they'd tried it out?_

"Oh come on Sam! I bet if you push the button in it's on the spin cycle."

Sam glares at her, then exits the room, the button snaps and the machine immediately jumps into the spin cycle thumping and banging with an uneven load. The button snaps again and it goes silent, Sam walks in red-faced. Dean opens his mouth to say something to him but Sam sticks his hand up and interrupts him.

"Don't even go there Dean!"

Alex bites her lip trying not to giggle, resulting in some poorly suppressed laughter. Dean laughs, watching Sam get even more embarrassed. Alex looks at Sam then stops laughing, and manages to get serious again. She looks around the room and then at the boys, at a loss.

"Sorry. So we have eleven dead couples, heart attacks and strokes, who might have all died while having sex...a lot of sex. What is going on? And how does this woman fit in? And where is she? I've been all over town and I can't find her."

Dean opens his mouth about to speak when the cop starts shouting from outside. Sam jumps to the window and watches Officer Stevens jump out of his car and run around the back of the house, hand on pistol chasing something.

"Go!" he yells at Alex and Dean. " Something's out back!"

Dean is the first one out of the door; Sam and Alex tear off out of the room, through the kitchen and out the back door onto the deck. They scan the manicured lawn surrounded by woods; half way across the yard is a figure. Dean tears across the deck and jumps down the stairs, Officer Stevens is screaming at it to stop half-way across the lawn.

It does and slightly turns around. It's her, a beautiful woman, with long, flowing hair, white dress, bare feet, she smiles a soft gentle smile and tilts her head to one side, looking at the two men, curiously. Dean and the cop both stop in their tracks, and stand there looking at her, entranced. She smiles again then turns and walks away into the woods. It isn't till she's gone that the two men snap out of it and look around. Sam and Alex walks down off the deck and join the two of them. Officer Stevens turns to look at Dean.

"Did you see her? She's beautiful; I love blonds, and those eyes!"

Dean frowns and glances at him, then Sam and Alex.

"She had brown hair..."

Sam shifts a little from side to side, then shakes his head at Dean, he glances at the cop and Alex, they both frown and shake their heads in unison.

"Dean, did you say brown 'cause I saw red Alex, what did you see?"

Alex frowns and shakes her head, then glances around the circle.

"I don't get it. Black hair, it was black. What the hell?"

The restaurant is full when Alex, Dean and Sam walk in, all looking tired, still in their suits. They slide into a booth and are immediately joined by Sal. She puts down coffee cups and fills them up silently, then glances around the group.

"You guys look like you've had one of those days. Don't worry hon, lots of pie tonight. You want the usual Alex?"

Sal's cheery disposition rubs off and Alex finds herself smiling back at her, the frustrations of the day fading a bit at the idea of a good meal.

"No, I've got a bit of a headache, how about something light, like that salad Sam had last night. What was it Chicken Caesar? ...but I still want my pie though."

Sal nods and smiles, then looks at Sam.

"Same for me, no pie though."

"Cheeseburger, onion rings, and pie. Whatever you've got, your pie is so freakin good I don't care what flavour you bring me."

Sal laughs at his comment and then glances between Alex and Dean, she has a funny grin on her face.

"Aren't you two going to share again? We've got six different kinds tonight, the baker when nuts today don't know what got into him."

Dean glances at Alex and quirks his eyebrows at her, Alex twists her lips up and smiles at Dean trying hard to appear mad at him. It was like teasing him because most of the time he could see right through her, and knew she was trying to get him going.

"Do you promise to share this time?"

Dean immediately smiles back at her, seeing the teasing look in her eyes.

"I swear I will share all the pie, come on six pieces! I will definitely share!"

The crowd in the restaurant has died down by the time they finish eating, it was a leisurely pace, all three of them too tired to hurry, and face it, Alex decided it was nice company and good conversation. She glances around the table at the mess of dishes when she realised something.

"Hold it right there! That's the last bite of apple! That's mine!"

Dean stops the spoon halfway to his mouth, and then grins at her, looking at the bits and pieces of pie left in all the plates.

"Okay, my last bite of Apple for your last bite of Lemon Meringue."

He negotiates, his eyes laughing at her. Alex looks down at the plate in front of her; she does have the last bite of Lemon Meringue, and then looks up at Dean.

"Fine! Here!"

Alex holds out her fork with the last bite of Lemon Meringue on it and Dean holds out the Apple, they both lean forward and eat the bites off of each other's forks. Grinning like Cheshire cats as they chew on the last bites. Sam shakes his head, then thinks for a second when he realises Dean and Alex are starting to blend into the groups of flirting couples.

"The last bite always tastes the best." Alex hums her agreement as she chews. Sam glances between the two of them and then shifts in his chair and flips out a notebook. He flips though several pages and reads over his notes.

"Well I'm glad you're both happy but we still haven't figured out what we're going to do. There's no deaths in the area of the house, there's no Woman in White legend, there isn't even a graveyard anywhere remotely close to the place, so who was she? and why did we all see something different, I mean really how do you confuse blond and black hair?"

"I think we need those autopsy reports and medical records from the other dead couples. Maybe there is something in there that will help." Alex says, looking around the table.

"Sounds like little break-in is needed."

Dean looks at Sam and wiggles his eyebrows, eager to get out of the suit and into his jeans again. The fact was there was something a bit exciting about breaking into places; it was a bit of a rush for him. He always laughed about the time they had snuck into that building development and stole a steam shower. Normal people stole hotel towels, he stole showers.

"That's dangerous, we risk setting off alarms and getting caught. We have to keep under the radar around here, it's a small town. We're kicking up enough notice now."

Sam grumbles, glancing round the restaurant knowing his brother was getting the adrenaline rush, knowing it was going to be a job bringing him back down off it. Alex looks at the two boys and smiles a smug grin, they weren't the only one doing research today.

"No worries. Should be an easy job. I checked out the clinic, no alarm, the records are all held up front, in the office area, on shelves, color coded by last name. I heard Marcy tell Sal that they sent the coroner reports back to the clinic to be complied with the med files. It should be a quick grab and go."

Alex tells them, draining her coffee cup, the movement makes her head pound a little and she realises the mild irritating headache is turning into a full blown one. At least it wasn't a migraine, they started with fuzzy vision and she could see just fine, besides a migraine was usually in her right temple. This headache seemed to directly correspond to the hot temperatures in the restaurant, why the frig was it so hot in here today? Dean frowns at her and shakes his head, then glances around the room.

"Marcy? Sal? Who are these people?"

Alex frowns a little and then rubs her forehead, she stretches her neck as she talks to Dean.

"Marcy is the receptionist at the Police Station." Alex points to a petite older woman with blonde hair cut in a bob sitting at the counter.

"She is chatting with Sal and the other waitress behind the counter. She's right there at the counter, older blond and Sal the waitress? Geeze Dean, pay attention."

Sam watches Alex for a second, and then glances at Dean. He leans over and bumps Alex with his shoulder.

"Hey are you okay? You look kind of flushed. How bad is that headache?" Alex rubs her forehead, then glances up at Sam surprised that he noticed her in pain. She had become master at hiding the physical hurts, it had kept her alive for many long months. The idea that he could see through her bugged her a little.

"Just a headache. I'll grab something for it later. Why don't we head back and get changed. I'll draw you a map of the clinic and the street and we'll go get the files."

Dean glances around the group and digs his wallet out of his back pocket; he pulls out several bills and tosses them on the table.

"You know I can't wait to get out of this suit." He mutters.

Dean's head pokes around a corner, he then quickly crosses the alley with Sam behind him and they come up to a heavy steel door. He quickly kneels down, Sam keeps watch as Dean picks the lock, the door easily opens and they silently disappear inside.

Flashlights come on, and the boys quietly make their way down a carpeted hallway, past examining rooms till they come to the office. There is a pile of medical files on the desk, Dean quickly grabs some and flips through them, noting the names. Sam checks the mail box.

"Sam! It looks like these are the ones we are looking for. Sweet! Looks like the coroner reports are all here too. Love small towns! Everything in one spot. Here, shove these in the bag and let's get out of here."

Sam grabs the first stack and shoves them in the bag, then the second stack and shoves them in too. Dean carefully walks down the same hallway and then stops and grabs a pile of gauze, some elastic bandages, ointments whatever is on the cart and stuffs his pockets.

"Dean! What are you doing? Stop that!"

Dean grabs a roll of medical tape and holds it up to Sam.

"Hey, why use duct tape when you can get the real thing for free? Besides if you'd stop getting beat up I wouldn't have to keep stealing this stuff."

Sam punches Dean in the arm, and then walks past him down the hallway; they carefully open the door and check the alley. Nothing is in sight so they quietly shut the door and slip across the alleyway, disappearing into the shadows.

Alex is stretched out on one of the beds in jeans and a tank top, the lights are low, her left arm over her eyes, she looks flushed, her breathing is a little heavy. She rolls over and grabs a bottle of pills and pops one in her mouth washing it down with water, and then lays back down on the pillows. This is more than an ordinary headache for her. Her head is pounding like she's got hammers inside her head. It's freakin' hot and stuffy inside, and this stupid rash on the inside of her left arm is starting to itch. _If I got into freakin' poison ivy or something, I will be pissed_.

She lightly rubs the inside of her arm, and then stretches her neck against the pillow. She is mentally starting to force herself to relax when there is a knock on the door. She groans and jumps up, then stops when her head pounds in protest, she edges over to the door and peeks out. _The boys look happy, thank god something went okay._ She swings the door open and lets them inside, ready to go back to bed. Dean's eyebrows go up a bit when he sees how she's dresses. She usually has multiple layers on, she has a great body but her scars on her arms and shoulders remind Dean of the pasts they are both hiding. Sam stops short too; looks at her for a second, then dumps his bag on the empty bed. Dean catches Sam's eyes and shakes his head faintly. Sam takes the hint then stops short. _How did he already know she had scars, and why is he protecting her?_ He turns back to his bags and avoids looking at her, just to keep Dean happy, but his thoughts are spinning. Dean smiles at Alex, glad she's too groggy to realise Sam's just got a good look at her and her scars. He knew how she felt about them and didn't want her to feel awkward around Sam.

"That was way too easy. I don't even think we broke a sweat."

Alex turns and leans in close to him and looks at him with half-closed eyes. She whispers in a deep, breathy, sexy voice.

"Ummm, Sweaty Dean. What an image I get..."

Dean hesitates and stares at her for a second, surprised but also interest in the hint that she was thinking of him like that. Alex blinks for as second then frowns and steps back away from him. _Where the hell did that come from? _She wasn't even thinking anything that bad, now images of a hot sweaty, semi-naked Dean were popping into her head.

"So it was successful, you got them? All of them?" she says trying to distract herself with conversation. Dean looks her up and down, very cautious. He smiles and steps back then tosses his bag on the table.

"Ahhh, ya. Every single one, I am so good." Sam snorts from the other side of the table where he is unpacking files. Alex steps closer to Dean and runs her finger over the pile of files.

"Just how good are you?" We she speaks her voice comes out in a low, husky and very sexy voice. Dean and Sam both do a double take and stare at Alex. She stops and looks confused for a second, then looks at the boys.

"AHHH, that's not what I meant. I meant its good that you are...so good...cause we have everything."

She stammers out her explanation, then avoids their eyes and starts to dig through the pile for files; Sam and Dean shoot each other a glance, and then start grabbing files too. Dean glances over to Alex and clears his throat.

"So what is it we are looking for exactly? Previous heart conditions, blood work, elevated levels of estrogens?"

"Yes, yes, and yes. There has to be a connection somewhere. You guys said that your last Siren left elevated levels of estrogens in the blood, so that should be the key."

Alex says, her freakin' head was pounding a little less, and the thought of doing something to get her mind off it was a blessing. Now if she could just get her playboy mouth under control. Dean slides onto a chair behind the table opposite Sam and grabs his coffee. They all open up a file each. She makes a stack of pillows against the headboard of the spare bed and plops down, opens a file and starts to read.

"These Doctors write like crap..." Dean groans looking at the first of several pages in his file. Sam sighs and glances over at Dean.

"These Doctors write like Dad."

"This is going to take a while."

Several hours later, the pile of files has been reduced to a cluttered mess of bits of paper and notes. Dean tosses his on the pile and reaches for the last one.

"Last one, thank god. My back is killing me from this stupid chair, I need a back rub" Alex looks up from her file, her eyes are glassy, her cheeks are flushed but her eyes are intent on Dean.

"Ummm...I'll volunteer if it means getting you naked." Dean and Sam's heads both swing around to look at Alex shocked and surprised at the blatant sexual comment. She's reclining on the bed, a pile of files beside her, she runs her fingers down her neck and over her cleavage. Sam glances at Dean, who shrugs at him, then back to Alex. Sam's eyes narrow and he looks at Alex closer, he sees her flushed cheeks and glassy eyes. _Something is wrong, she's definitely sick, with what?_

"I'm sorry I don't know where that came from. Must be the headache." She murmurs glancing around the room in confusion. It was like she didn't know where she was for a second. Sam frowns and watches her closely, then glances over at Dean. Dean is also watching her closely, frowning and Sam realises he's just as worried.

"Alex, you don't look right. How bad is that headache?"

"Bad. Don't you guys find it hot in here? "

Alex leans her head back against the pillows and closes her eyes, she's covered in a fine film of sweat. It's hot, her head is still pounding and her mind is wandering in circles. It's getting harder and harder to concentrate. Sam stands up and walks over to Alex and feels her forehead with the back of his fingers, they feel deliciously cool against her skin. He looks closer at her.

"You're hot. You're running a fever. Did you bang your arm or anything? Does it hurt?"

Dean stands up and touches Alex's forehead, then his fingers trails down her cheek. She leans into his fingers and sighs faintly. His fingers seem to feel so cool and comforting. Dean looks at Sam, worry clear on his face.

"Sam, what are you thinking?"

"Well it could be just a bug, but if her skin graft is infected it could be bad. Alex, will you let us check your arm?"

Alex shifts slightly on the bed and rubs her forehead with her good hand. _I'll do anything to make this headache go away._

"Ya, sure stuffs in the bathroom."Sam heads to the bathroom and jerks his head at Dean to follow him, he does and once out of hearing, Sam turns to Dean.

"She's definitely sick, she would never just say ya go ahead, she'd tell us to get bend and not to baby her."

Dean glances over to her on the bed and then leans in close to Sam and whispers.

"I know. Let's look at her arm, play it cool okay, I don't want her to worry."

By the time they are finished Alex is almost asleep, lying on the bed. Sam is carefully rolling the elastic sleeve up over fresh white gauze on her right arm. Dean sits at her left side in the chair watching Sam, his elbows on his knees.

"It looks fine, so she' probably got a bit of a bug. A good sleep should clear you right up Alex."

She hums from the bed half-asleep. Dean reaches out to adjust the cold cloth on her forehead; his eyes roam over her body and he presses his fingers to her cheek. It's still hot and flushed but at least she looks more comfortable.

"Bad time to get sick. Hey, what's this?"

Dean reaches down and picks up her left arm and turns it into the light. Sam looks closer at her left arm in Dean's hand, there are tiny red spots running up the inside of her arm from her wrist to her elbow. Dean runs his finger over them, then shrugs.

"I never noticed that before, maybe she's allergic to something." Sam says looking closer at her skin and touches the tiny raises bumps. He shakes his head to Dean, who is looking her over again.

"Well, I don't like it. I think one of us should stay here tonight, just in case she gets worse." Dean mutters, not looking at Sam.

Sam's eyebrows go up, and he looks at Dean. Sometime his brother surprised him, but it usually related to a sudden flash of tenderness or feeling, when he was around Alex he seemed to turn into a horney douche bag who said stupid insensitive things.

"She's sick Dean, get your head out of the gutter."

Dean looks at Sam surprised and then glares at him and Sam realises he's genuinely concerned for her, he wants to stay and watch over her.

"My heads not in the gutter, not at all. Fine we'll take turns, I'll do first half, you do second half. We can go through all the notes we took."

Sam looks at him, and then finally nods his head, realizing his brother is really concerned about her.

"Okay, I'll go crash for a bit. Call me if you find something."

"I'll make notes, you sleep." Dean says, gently pulling the sheet over a sleeping Alex.


End file.
